FEATURES | LEZ/BI MEDIA
There were no newsstand lesbian magazines in Britain when I came out in 1988. Paid-for publications such as Gay Times ran the odd token story about Martina Navratilova, Time Out (then also paid-for) had a gay column in which lesbians occasionally appeared, and there were weekly free-sheets, such as the Pink Paper, distributed in gay pubs and clubs nationwide. Largely edited by gay men, these publications included NIBs – that’s News In Brief – about lesbian club nights and events, profiles of lesbians – like activist, broadcaster and editor of lesbian magazine Sappho (1972-1981) Jackie Forster, or out, Black Labour councillor for Lambeth Borough Council, London, Linda Bellos – and news items about the wacky lesbians who abseiled into BBC newsreader Sue Lawley’s news studio live on air.
Excepting the likes of Quim magazine, which steered clear of the commercial route in favour of edgier and more sexual written and visual content, and Gemma, a print and audio publication for disabled lesbians which emerged in the late 1980s, there was no British mainstream national magazine just for lovers of ladies until 1992 when lesbian bi-monthly freebie, Shebang, was launched by Kim Watson via the Pink Paper’s distribution network.